Life
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
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- Ecosystems
Big Foot: Eco-footprints of rich dwarf poor nations’ debt
The first global accounting finds rich and middle-income nations stomping heavy footprints on poorer ones.
- Paleontology
Life explodes twice
The Ediacaran fauna were as varied as all animals in existence today and, more impressively, as in the Cambrian, report paleontologists.
- Animals
Fenced-off trees drop their friends
Protecting acacia trees from large, tree-munching animals sets off a chain of events that ends up ruining the trees' partnership with their bodyguard ants.
- Animals
Secret Lives of Worms
Colorful and compelling, this science-rich, 15-minute video offers an up-close glimpse into the weird world of segmented worms—from nightcrawlers and leeches to feathery coral-dwelling dazzlers. Go to: https://www.sciencenews.org/sn-magazine/april-11-1987
- Animals
Butterfly’s clock linked to compass
The most detailed look yet at the monarch butterfly's daily rhythm keeper suggests it's closer to ancient forms than to the fruit fly's or mouse's inner clock.
- Paleontology
The warm jungles of ancient France
Chemical analyses of amber excavated near Paris suggest that France was covered with a dense tropical forest about 55 million years ago.
- Animals
Purring birds teach their chicks to beg
African birds called pied babblers teach their chicks that certain parental noises mean food is on the way.
- Paleontology
Whales started small
The ancestors of whales, some of which are the largest creatures ever to evolve, probably were mammals no larger than a fox.
- Paleontology
Struck from above
Evidence of an extraterrestrial object striking Earth at the height of the last ice age comes from micrometeorites embedded in the tusks of creatures that were grazing the Alaskan tundra when the object burst in the air above.
- Animals
Not So Spineless
Looking for personalities in animals, even among spiders and insects, could add new twists to ideas about evolution and explain some odd animal behavior.
- Animals
Hatch a Thief: Brains incline birds toward a life of crime
When it comes to a bird family's propensity to pilfer, a larger than usual brain for a particular body size is more important than body size alone.
